THE family of one of three women whose lives could have been saved if police had investigated serial killer Harold Shipman properly, labelled the force as "appallingly incompetent" last night.

Greater Manchester Police apologised to the families of Winifred Mellor, Joan Melia and Kathleen Grundy after the Shipman Inquiry ruled that their lives could have been saved by a properly directed investigation.

Chief Superintendent David Sykes and Detective Inspector David Smith, the officers at the head of the March 1998 inquiry, which failed to uncover any evidence of Shipman's killing spree, were out of their depth and unfit for the case, it said.

Winifred Mellor's son Danny said after publication of the Shipman Inquiry's report into the investigation that he was "disappointed" by the "tardy manner" in which it was carried out.

He said, "Today's reports have just confirmed what we all knew - it was an appallingly incompetent police investigation."

An initial internal inquiry into the investigation was no more than an attempt to brush aside criticism, he said. "There was no sense of urgency.

"It is the final nail in the coffin of Greater Manchester Police, as far as I'm concerned.

"I want Detective Inspector Smith and his superiors to face the consequences of their incompetence."

The news followed publication of the Shipman Inquiry's second and third reports into the failed police investigation and into the system of certifying deaths and cremations in England and Wales.

Inquiry chairman Dame Janet Smith said the coronor system had to be radically reformed if it was to prevent a case such as Shipman's happening again.

She said an opportunity to uncover his crimes was missed in 1994 when Renate Overton was admitted to hospital after Shipman injected her with diamorphine. She was in a coma for 14 months before dying.

Dame Janet said the lives of Shipman's last three victims "would probably have been saved" had a "properly directed" police investigation been carried out in March 1998.

There was a "systems failure" and the "wrong people" were appointed to the case, she said.

Mr Sykes, who has since retired, was not experienced enough to supervise the investigation and did not realise that Detective Inspector Smith was "out of his depth".

Detective Inspector Smith, who carried out the investigation, did not fully understand the issues, made no record of his inquiries, failed to check Shipman's past convictions and did not pursue the fact that post mortem examinations could have been performed on two victims Shipman killed shortly before his investigation began.

Fellow Hyde GP Dr Linda Reynolds had warned police that Shipman might have been using drugs to kill his patients.